= Francis_Brinkley =

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= Francis_Brinkley =
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Introduction
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Francis Brinkley (30 December 1841 - 12 October 1912) was an
Anglo-Irish newspaper owner, editor and scholar who resided in Meiji
period Japan for over 40 years, where he was the author of numerous
books on Japanese culture, art and architecture and an
English-Japanese Dictionary. He was the great-uncle of Cyril Connolly.

Early life
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Frank Brinkley was born at Parsonstown House, County Meath in 1841. He
was the thirteenth and youngest child of Richard Brinkley J.P., of
Parsonstown and his wife Harriet Graves. John Brinkley, the last
Bishop of Cloyne and the first Royal Astronomer of Ireland, was his
paternal grandfather. Richard Graves, a Senior Fellow of Trinity
College and the Dean of Ardagh, was his maternal grandfather. One of
Brinkley's sisters, Jane (Brinkley) Vernon of Clontarf Castle, was the
grandmother of Cyril Connolly. Another sister, Anna, became the
Dowager Countess of Kingston after the death of her first husband,
James King, 5th Earl of Kingston and was the last person to live at
Mitchelstown Castle. Richard Francis Burton, a distinguished linguist
who shared Brinkley's passion for foreign cultures, was related to him
through the latter's maternal family.

Brinkley went to Royal School Dungannon before entering Trinity
College, where he received the highest records in mathematics and
classics. After graduating, he chose a military career and was
subsequently accepted at the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich,
becoming an artillery officer. In this capacity, his cousin, Sir
Richard Graves MacDonnell the 6th Governor of Hong Kong (1866-1872),
invited him out to the east to serve as his Aide-de-camp and Adjutant.

In 1866, Brinkley visited Nagasaki on his way to Hong Kong. During the
visit, he witnessed a duel between two 'samurai' warriors. The victor
covered the opponent he had slain with 'haori', and "knelt down with
hands clasped in prayer". Reportedly, Brinkley was impressed by the
warriors' conduct, which enticed him to live in Japan permanently.

Life in Japan
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In 1867, Brinkley returned to Yokohama, Japan, never again to return
home. Attached to the British-Japanese Legation and still an officer
in the Royal Artillery, he was assistant military attache to the
Japanese Embassy. He resigned his commission in 1871 to take up the
post of foreign advisor to the new Meiji government and taught
artillery techniques to the Imperial Japanese Navy at the Naval
Gunnery School. He mastered the Japanese language soon after his
arrival, and both spoke and wrote it well. In 1878, Brinkley was
invited to teach mathematics at the Imperial College of Engineering,
which later became part of Tokyo Imperial University, remaining in
this post for two and a half years.

In 1878, media in Japan reported that Brinkley was married to Yasuko
Tanaka, a daughter of a former samurai from the Mito clan. The
Japanese government approved the marriage in March 1886. Interracial
marriages could be registered under Japanese law from 1873. It was the
first official English-Japanese cross-culturally married couple in
Japan. The British Legation, however, rejected Brinkley's marriage due
to concerns about Tanaka's nationality issue arising from the
marriage. Brinkley fought the rejection and eventually succeeded by
appealing to the British judiciary in February 1890. They were the
parents of two sons and a daughter. One of his sons was named Jack
Ronald Brinkley.

In 1881, Brinkley purchased 'The Japan Weekly Mail' (also known as the
'Japan Mail'). Since then and before his death, he was the newspaper's
owner and editor-in-chief. 'Japan Mail' merged with the 'Japan Times'
afterwards. The Japanese government financially supports the 'Japan
Mail'. In exchange, the newspaper aligned with the Japanese
government. While the 'Japan Mail' was the most widely read English
newspaper in the Far East, many people criticised the newspaper's
government support: Robert Young, owner of 'Japan Chronicle',
described the newspaper as "paid advocacy"; while some of them even
critised the newspaper was nothing more than a "government propaganda
organ".

After the First Sino-Japanese War, Brinkley succeeded Henry Spencer
Palmer and became the Tokyo-based correspondent for 'The Times' of
London. He gained fame for his dispatches during the Russo-Japanese
War of 1904-1905. Brinkley was awarded the Order of the Sacred
Treasure by Emperor Meiji for his contributions to better
Anglo-Japanese relations. He was also an adviser to the Nippon Yusen
Kaisha, Japan's largest shipping line. F.A. MacKenzie, a prominent
English journalist, wrote:

'Captain Brinkley's great knowledge of Japanese life and language is
admitted and admired by all. His independence of judgment is, however,
weakened by his close official connection with the Japanese Government
and by his personal interest in Japanese industry. His journal is
regarded generally as a government mouth-piece, and he has succeeded
in making himself a more vigorous advocate of the Japanese claims than
even the Japanese themselves. It can safely be forecasted that
whenever a dispute arises between Japanese and British interests,
Captain Brinkley and his journal will play the part, through thick and
thin, of defenders of the Japanese.'

Brinkley's last dispatch to 'The Times' was written from his deathbed
in 1912, reporting on a 'seppuku': Emperor Meiji had recently died and
to show fealty to the deceased emperor, General Nogi Maresuke together
with his wife committed hara-kiri.

Private life
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Frank Brinkley had many hobbies, which included gardening, collecting
Japanese art and pottery, cricket, tennis, horse riding and hunting.
Part of his significant collection of art and pottery was donated to
various museums around the world, but most of it was reduced to rubble
and ash after the Great Tokyo earthquake and World War II.

He wrote books for English beginners interested in the Japanese
language, and his grammar books and English-Japanese Dictionary
(compiled with Fumio Nanjo and Yukichika Iwasaki) were regarded as the
definitive books on the subject for those studying English in the
latter half of the Meiji period.

He wrote much on Japanese history and Japanese art. His book 'A
History of Japanese People: from the Earliest Times to the End of the
Meiji Era', which was published after his death by 'The Times' in
1915, covered Japanese history, fine arts and literature from the
origins of the Japanese race up until the latter half of the Meiji
period.

Death
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In 1912, at the age of 71 and one month after General Nogi's death,
Francis Brinkley died. At his funeral, the mourners included the
Speaker of the House of Peers, Tokugawa Iesato, the Minister of the
Navy Saitō Makoto, and the Foreign Minister Uchida Kosai. He is buried
in the foreign section of the Aoyama Reien cemetery in central Tokyo.

After his death Ernest Satow wrote of Brinkley to Frederick Victor
Dickins on 21 November 1912: "I have not seen any fuller memoir of
Brinkley than what appeared in "The Times". As you perhaps know I did
not trust him. Who wrote "The Times" notice I cannot imagine. As you
say, it was the work of an ignorant person."

Before his death, Frank Brinkley had told his son, Jack, of an episode
that occurred during the Russo-Japanese War. After the Japanese had
defeated the Russians at the Battle of Mukden, the Chief of the
General Staff, Kodama Gentarō, rushed home in secret to urge the
Japanese Government to conclude a treaty with Russia. At the time it
was a hugely consequential secret and yet he confided this national
secret to Brinkley, the foreign correspondent of 'The Times',
demonstrating the utmost confidence in which the Chief of the General
Staff held Brinkley.

Publications
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* 《英国銃隊練法 : 1870年式》 By Frank Brinkley. 服部本之助, 玉置正造. 津: 整暇堂, 1872
* 《語学独案内》 By Frank Brinkley.
** Tokyo: 日就社, 1876
** With 門野久太郎. Tokyo: 文学社, 1887-11
** Tokyo: 岩森錠太郎等. 1888
** Tokyo: 集山堂, 1896.4
* 'The Kyoto Industrial Exhibition of 1895: held in celebration of the
eleven hundredth anniversary of the city's existence' By Frank
Brinkley. Kyoto: The Kyoto City Government, 1895
* 《和英大辞典》 By Frank Brinkley. Tokyo: 三省堂, 1897.10
* '[http://iiif.lib.harvard.edu/manifests/view/drs:43002977$2i Japan:
described and illustrated by the Japanese]' By Frank Brinkley. Boston:
J. B. Millet Company, 1897-1898.
** Translated by 岡倉覚三. London: The Folio Society, 2012.
* 'Japan, its history, arts and literature' By Frank Brinkley. Tokyo:
J.B. Millet, 1901-1902
* 'Oriental series: Japan and China / by F. Brinkley.' By Frank
Brinkley. Boston: J. B. Millet, 1901-1902.
* 'The art of Japan / by Captain F. Brinkley.' By Frank Brinkley.
Boston: J. B. Millet, 1901.
* 'China; its history, arts and literature, by Captain F. Brinkley.'
By Frank Brinkley. Boston: J. B. Millet, 1902
* 'An unabridged Japanese-English dictionary' By Frank Brinkley,
南条文雄, 岩崎行親, 1855-1928 Tokyo: Sanseidō, 1907.7
* 《新語学独案内》 By Frank Brinkley. Tokyo: 三省堂, 1910.6
* 'The world's English readers' By Brinkley, Frank, 斎藤秀三郎, 1866-1929
Tokyo: Nichi-Eisha, 1911
* 'A history of the Japanese people: from the earliest times to the
end of the Meiji era / by Capt. F. Brinkley, with the collaboration of
Baron Kikuchi.' By Frank Brinkley. 菊池大麓. New York: The Encyclopædia
Britannica Co., 1914-1915
* 'Brinkley's Japanese-English dictionary' By Frank Brinkley.
Cambridge: W.Heffer and sons, 1963

See also
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* Jinzō Matsumura

External links
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*
*
* [http://www2s.biglobe.ne.jp/~matu-emk/brinkle.html Francis Brinkley]
*
*

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